The ritual and flavor does it for me. Working in the yard while puffing away is super relaxing. I also love the nostalgia and memories of my grandparents and dad smoking.
What is Appealing about Pipe Smoking?
- Thread starter Scottmi
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Like many others, I like the ritual of it as well. It also allows me to "decompress" for a bit, when needed.
1 through 5 plus it keeps me from choking the living day lights out of someone who has pissed me off.
I was wondering if anyone else caught that this was a ChatGPT generated response to the question!
I love tobacco/nicotine is what initially drew me to the pipe. I was dipping a lot and worked in a job where I wasn't permitted to while on the job. I would get pretty agitated by the end of the day and my nic cravings were seriously having a negative impact on my home and work life. I read somewhere that pipes delivered nicotine without the need to inhale and users often reported a drop off in nic cravings when compared to other nic delivery systems (cigs, dip, etc.). This was enough to get me on board. Before long pipes became my exclusive tobacco outlet. This very quickly brought about a much deeper dive into tobacco and pipes. I began to see pipes as art and to weigh that with their function. I wanted pieces that not only caught my eye but felt nice in the hand and smoked wonderfully. Trying new blends became an obsession. I love the taste of tobacco. Closing my eyes on the retrohale and picking out the character that each condiment tobacco is adding to a blend. Pipes allow me meaningful time with myself. I will often bird watch while piping and I seem to see things that I just don't notice without a pipe. The smell of Virginia tobacco that lingers on my hands and body after a smoke is incredible. The natural caramel, vanilla, Graham cracker sweetness that sticks to you is just pure nostalgia. I can close my eyes and be back on my great grandfather's porch in Kentucky...thats a pretty magical thing.
Stress is defined as the confusion created when the brain overrides the body's basic desire to choke the shite out of some arsehole who desperately deserves it.
For an AI that hasn't actually experienced the pleasure of smoking a pipe (or anything else, for that matter), ChatGPT pretty well captures how I'd answer the prompt. As a few others have added, smoking a pipe offers the benefit of modest nic intake (assuming the smoker inhales only minimally) without the likelihood of addiction. Before I tried a pipe for the first time, a primary attraction was the prospect of smoking without inhaling. A less consequential but still appealing aspect of pipe smoking is that pipes and pipe tobacco were reasonably accessible to me as a teenager (I could easily borrow an older family member's pipe and a bowl of tobacco, and it was almost no trouble to buy a pipe and pipe tobacco of my own when I got bold enough to try).
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Amen. Yet I can still feel like a sailor just back to shore with a full bowl of Royal Yacht, and I am learning the joys of the retrohale. Also, Nic ain't the bad guy it's been made out to be, methinks. All the other crap one inhales (when one inhales) is what does one in.
You nailed it
I try to always live in the "Now"
The past no longer exists and the future is usually a troubling illusion.
Pipe smoking helps to keep me grounded in the present moment.
Pipe smoking fits perfectly with the cranky old prick that I have proudly become.
Plus I like good tobacco.
Plus I like good tobacco.
Hmmm...I'm less. Or at least I'm assuming this is so, judging from the copious number of restraining orders I've yet to fish out of my mailbox...
Love this thread. Potential for lesser health risk, relaxation, taste, aroma, tradition. People generally like seeing a pipe in my neck of the woods.
The past no longer exists, the future is a negative egoic illusion.
The unconscious thinking
mind is repetitive mental noise and is highly destructive. (Monkey Brain)
Pipe smoking keeps me focused on the "Now" the present conscious mind.
The power of living in the "Now" is our pathway to becoming spiritually aware.'
Quieting the mind while being stoically still in the silence of the "Now" while pipe smoking is transformative and enlightening.
Be the watcher, the witness of your conscious presence.
The unconscious thinking
mind is repetitive mental noise and is highly destructive. (Monkey Brain)Pipe smoking keeps me focused on the "Now" the present conscious mind.
The power of living in the "Now" is our pathway to becoming spiritually aware.'
Quieting the mind while being stoically still in the silence of the "Now" while pipe smoking is transformative and enlightening.
Be the watcher, the witness of your conscious presence.
The past no longer exists, the future is a negative egoic illusion.
The unconscious thinking
Pipe smoking keeps me focused on the "Now" the present conscious mind.
The power of living in the "Now" is our pathway to becoming spiritually aware.'
Quieting the mind while being stoically still in the silence of the "Now" while pipe smoking is transformative and enlightening.
Be the watcher, the witness of your conscious presence.
It’s the ritual: Fill my pipe, tamp and light. And thank God for his bounties.
I think it's worth pointing out that we aren't born with a desire for smoke, like we're born with a desire for food and drink. So, smoking is an acquired desire.
This means that we can differentiate between the questions, "Why did you acquire the desire at the beginning?" and "What is that desire now?"
In my case, I acquired the desire at the beginning because I admired Tokien and Lewis. That may be silly, but I'm not alone in that silliness.
As for the shape that the desire took, after awhile -- well, as for many of you, it became multi-facted:
This means that we can differentiate between the questions, "Why did you acquire the desire at the beginning?" and "What is that desire now?"
In my case, I acquired the desire at the beginning because I admired Tokien and Lewis. That may be silly, but I'm not alone in that silliness.
As for the shape that the desire took, after awhile -- well, as for many of you, it became multi-facted:
- I grew an affection for the pipes themselves. These little bits of functional art are compelling to accumulate.
- I acquired a taste for certain sorts of tobacco, and I enjoy their flavors.
- The little rituals inolved in pipe smoking, like all good rituals, give a certain organic rhythm to the mind and body that we humans tend to flourish in.
- I do find that I relax on multiple levels when I have a pipe. This may be due in part to the ritual, in part to the breathing cadence, in part to sitting down and focusing on something simple for a block of time, and in part to the nicotine (although I don't like heavy-N, it may be that smaller amounts are influencing my relaxation more than I realize).
